Lamont keeps implying that he himself would fix the television when Fred agrees to start exercising more. A television set that badly damaged couldn't be repaired by a professional repairman, much less someone like Lamont, and even if it could, it would cost as much as, or more than, buying a new television, which the repairman would easily tell that person to do.
Everything points to Fred and Lamont's TV being fake.
First, neither one are showing even accidentally knocking over the TV, and based on it moving a little before it eventually crashed down off the table, it was clearly pulled over off the set by invisible string. Secondly, a TV of that size in the 1970s would be too heavy to just flip over off the table and land on its top as it did. (It would more likely land on its back, which would likely cause internal damage, but very little external damage.) Thirdly, no TV tube shatters like a pane of glass as this one did. More likely, the tube would've emitted a small explosion if damaged enough as the TV was still plugged in when it fell.
First, neither one are showing even accidentally knocking over the TV, and based on it moving a little before it eventually crashed down off the table, it was clearly pulled over off the set by invisible string. Secondly, a TV of that size in the 1970s would be too heavy to just flip over off the table and land on its top as it did. (It would more likely land on its back, which would likely cause internal damage, but very little external damage.) Thirdly, no TV tube shatters like a pane of glass as this one did. More likely, the tube would've emitted a small explosion if damaged enough as the TV was still plugged in when it fell.